Although everyone has experience taking and sharing photographs on a personal level, copyright issues become a lot more complicated in the world of commercial photography. Whether you’re a professional photographer who wants to license his work with the best protection or a business owner who purchases images from a photographer, you’ll need to understand the types of copyright agreements that come with each type of use and license.

Personal Use Licenses

Photos you buy or sell under a personal use license — also known as a retail license — have the most restrictive copyrights. Images purchased this way are licensed by the photographer to be used as the print or graphic is made. The copyright agreement allows the buyer to use the photo on a limited basis, such as for decoration in an office, and the licensing agreement doesn’t transfer any other rights to the buyer. The buyer can’t reproduce the image or use it for commercial purposes, although the doctrine of first sale allows the buyer to sell the print and his personal-use copyright to it to anyone he likes.

Editorial Photography License

If you operate a newsletter or sell your photographs to be used in an editorial manner, you’ll need to agree to an editorial license. Purchasers who use images as part of a publication, print or electronic, typically purchase images using these rights. In most cases, photographers grant the publication one-time rights to reproduce the image as part of their publication but maintain primary copyright controls on the image. Because a person’s right to publicity doesn’t extend to using their images in an editorial context, photographers usually don’t need to obtain a photo release form to sell images in this fashion.

Commercial Photography License

If you’re a business owner who purchases images for use in your business beyond decorative purposes, you’ll need to obtain a commercial photography license. Commercial licenses must be used when the photograph is being used to sell or promote a product or service, which is as broad as photographs used in advertisements to packaging. The buyer receives full rights to reproduce the image in these settings using this license, and, in some cases, may be able to purchase the copyright for the image outright. Because the right of publicity bars photographers and companies from using photos of people and property in a commercial setting without their permission, the photographer should obtain photo release forms for each identifiable person, and maintain these releases on file.

Who Owns the Copyright?

In most cases, the photographer who shoots the photograph automatically owns copyright to the image under U.S. copyright law. To transfer formally registered copyrights to a third party — such as if your company wants to own the rights to an image it uses repeatedly — the photographer must file a transfer of recordation with the U.S. Copyright Office. In most cases, copyright agreements for photographs only license the use of the image, not transfer the image outright. If the photograph was taken by a person in the normal course of his duties — a staff photographer, for instance — his employer owns the copyright on the image.